Weirdness Doesn't Just Come from Mythology
by FullMetalPon-3
Summary: When Mabel is kidnapped by phoenixes, Dipper must put his trust in a group of mysterious teenagers. However, this adventure may test the limits of their imagination, as they realize that not all monsters are attached to a story. Reviews appreciated greatly!
1. New Arrivals

**DIPPER AND MABEL ARE NOT DEMIGODS IN THIS STORY. I REPEAT, NOT DEMIGODS.**

 **Don't own, because Dipper is too cute for me to own.**

Chiron examined the map hanging in his office in the big house. He was in his wheelchair, since otherwise, he would be much too tall. He traced his finger along a road, tapping when he came to a seemingly unmarked part. "That looks to be it..." he muttered to himself.

There was a knock on the door behind him. "You wanted to see us, Chiron?" asked Jason Grace, sixteen-year-old sole inhabitant of the Zeus cabin. Piper Mclean, head of the Aphrodite cabin and Jason's girlfriend followed behind him.

Chiron wheeled himself around. "Ah, yes. Are you familiar with the phoenix?"

Piper contemplated this. "Um, I've heard of them, but I don't know if they're malicious, like Laistrygonian giants, or beneficial, like unicorns. They're not really known for being super Greek."

"Sometimes mortals seem to switch it around," Jason agreed. "Like, in Narnia, Griffins are good, but they're actually bad."

"Well, it turns out they are, indeed, malicious," Chiron said, looking as if he was talking about a nasty dog in the neighborhood, rather than a giant man-eating bird. "They're rather unusual, though, as far as monsters go. In order to keep their extraordinary eyesight, they'll feed on demigods, but prefer clear-sighted mortals."

"Like Rachel?" Piper asked.

"Yes, but Rachel was difficult to get to because of the commotion of the big city. They favor quieter surroundings," Chiron said. "And, unfortunately, I think I found a colony."

"Where?" Jason asked.

"A tiny town in the middle of nowhere," Chiron stated. "Its name is Gravity Falls."

...

"And here, Ladies and Gents, is the incredible were-wolf rabbit corpse. Behold its terrible sharp buckteeth!" Stanley Pines announced, dramatically, throwing out his arms for emphasis.

While the crowd oohed, and ahed, the great-nephew of Stan, Dipper Pines, whispered, "Boo! Fake!" to his twin sister, Mabel, who giggled.

"Not as fake as your manliness," she snickered.

"Hey!" Dipper gave her a playful smack.

They watched as Stan wished the crowd good-bye and shooed them out the door. "Hey, I don't pay you kids to laze around all day. Make yourself useful and go get some firewood."

Dipper gestured to the empty pan besides the fireplace. "It's summer. Why do we even need a fire?"

"We need a fire so this place looks spooky to the tourists, and if there's no logs, go out into the woods and get some more!" Stan ordered.

"Grunkle Stan, that's dumb!" Mabel protested. "You expect us to work our butts off getting logs when you pay us less than ten bucks a day?"

"Hey, under-the-table jobs are better than ones where the government takes half of what you should be earning," he told her. The twins glared back at him in response, knowing full well why he refused to pay them minimum wage. Finally, he relented. "Okay, I'll tell you what; it's noon now. If you can get enough firewood to last the week by six, I'll take you out for ice cream."

The twins high-fived.

"But," their "Grunkle" continued, "if it takes you longer, you forfeit all desert privileges for the next two weeks! And I'll make Soos install a lock on the vending machine to keep you kids from stealing candy." He thought for a moment. "And I'll keep your money you earn until after that so you can't buy any snacks in town."

With simultaneous looks of shock, the siblings ran outside as fast as their legs could carry them.

Ford, Stan's six-fingered brother, came out from the hall, sipping a PITT soda. "Harsh much?" he asked.

"I don't want them turning out like us, even if what keeps them together is them being scared of punishment," Stan sighed. "And don't steal my soda!"

...

After about ten hours, Piper and Jason finally stopped in the small town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. It was quaint, yet a little odd, and looked as though it was a few decades behind the rest of America. On their way through the town, they passed an arcade, a biker's club, a diner shaped like a log, and a water tower with a giant muffin graffitied onto it.

According to Chiron, phoenixes typically resided on the highest peak they could find, so the two demigods took an unused road that started to get more and more dusty and unkempt as they went. At one point, they passed an abandoned convenience store, Dusk2Dawn, surrounded by a metal fence. A sign on it said, "Trespassers will be DEAD", since "Prosecuted" was spray painted out.

"Wow," Jason marveled. "Let's stop in for a soda, why don't we?"

Piper laughed, and punched him in the arm. "Yeah, let's get all our grocery shopping done for a week."

As they turned their backs on the store, a strong wind blew past. It was probably just Piper's imagination, but she could have sworn she heard a voice harshly whispering, "No teens..."

An involuntary shiver ran down her spine and she trotted to catch back up to Jason. They continued along the road until they reached a path that led off into the forest.

"Yay," Jason cheered sarcastically. "It's gonna be so much fun going through a dark spooky forest looking for monsters."

"Sounds like most days," Piper shrugged. "But that doesn't make it fun," she agreed, starting after him.

...

Dipper scowled as he chopped deeper into the large log of wood that had been placed on a tree stump in the woods. Mabel grumbled as she pushed another piece along on its side, annoyed that chips of bark were getting caught in her sweater. Finally, she gave up and slumped against it. She pulled out a water bottle and offered it to Dipper after taking a sip.

He slumped alongside her. "Ugh, we're never gonna win. Good-bye, sugar," he said, mournfully. "We've already been out for an half-an-hour." He glanced at their paltry pile of wood and pulled his hat over his eyes.

"We can't let Grunkle Stan win!" Mabel chastised, standing on top of the log for emphasis. Dipper glanced up, lifting his hat over one eye. She jumped down. "Dipper come on! Look, this is what Grunkle Stan is like." She grabbed two wood chips from the ground and held them over her eyebrows. "'Look, I'm Stingy Stan! Behold my incredible exhibit, Buttface old man! Oh, wait, that's me!" she mocked, in a pretty terrible, yet very hilarious imitation.

Dipper laughed. "Wait, you need a fez!" He picked a smaller log up and placed it carefully on top of her head. Both burst into peals of laughter at this.

But their joyfulness was cut short by a loud screech.

The twins stepped together for protection. "What was that?" Mabel asked, her voice trembling very slightly. The log fell off her head and almost crushed Dipper's foot.

"I don't know," Dipper replied. He put his hand inside his vest and reached for his journal. He never even touched the spine of the book before he was lifted up into the air by the back of his vest. "AUUGH!" he screamed, in almost perfect harmony with Mabel, who was having the same experience. He twisted his neck around and saw he was being held by the talons of a giant orange, red, and yellow bird. Incredible heat radiated off its body. "What is this?!"

He tried to fight it, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't free himself. At one point, he burned himself on the back of his hand by accidentally touching some of the feathers. He couldn't reach his journal when he was up in the air, and didn't know what to do. That is, until the eagle came.

...

 **Ending was kinda weird, sorry.**

 **BTW, did you notice in The Last Mabelcorn when Dipper was having his mind scanned, one of the messages in the background was "Eenie, Meenie, Minie, YOU!" (What Bill said just before he stole his body in Sock Opera.) It could mean nothing, or it could mean that Bill is still in there a little bit! Either way, I like continuity.**


	2. Don't Trust Kids with Swords

**Onwards, Aoshima!**

As Piper and Jason trekked along the unkempt forest path, they noticed several oddities about the surrounding woods. When they were passing a nearby creek, they kept hearing splashes, but when they looked, they saw nothing. In addition, some of the surrounding trees looked as though the knots in the wood were in the shape of eyeballs.

"Geez, I've been to some pretty creepy places, but I feel like I'm being watched with these trees on all different sides," Piper shuddered.

"They are pretty weird," Jason agreed.

As they walked along, they suddenly heard talking not too far off. It sounded like small children, so they decided to follow the sound and investigate. They soon came to a small clearing with a felled tree. Two children, a boy and a girl, around twelve or thirteen, were laughing, the girl balancing a log on her head. The boy had curly brown hair and brown eyes and wore a hat with a blue pine tree. The girl had long wavy brown hair and wore a sweater with a mouse and a cat snuggling together.

Jason and Piper watched from the sidelines.

"They must be siblings," Piper pointed out. "Look at their hair and eyes."

Jason smiled as the girl danced around singing, "Blah, blah, blah, I'm Grunkle Stan and I eat glue!" He had no idea what a "Grunkle" was, but apparently it was pretty funny, as the boy snickered and said, "Ooh, now make him say, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is my brain! I don't have it in my head anymore, which is why I always walk into walls!'"

"It would be nice to have a chance to do my childhood over again," Jason said. "I got raised by wolves and you stole lawnmowers. I wish me and Thalia could have been more like those two." He was about to suggest that they continue looking for the phoenixes, when he heard a loud screech.

The boy and the girl looked alarmed and stepped closer together.

"Oh, gods!" Piper blanched. "Not while there are kids around!" They were startled by a loud whoosh. In a blur of orange and red, two enormous birds each held one kid in their talons.

They were incredibly beautiful monsters, about as big as a ostrich but with longer wings and shorter necks and legs. Their feathers were shiny, almost like they were dipped in molten gold, and an elaborate crest rested on their heads. But it was ruined by the fact that the two children were hanging from their claws, screaming.

"I'll get them with the winds!" Jason shouted, floating a few feet above the ground. "Catch them if I miss!"

He was about to fly towards them and attack, when a large bald eagle slammed into the one holding the boy, who was quickly dropped out of surprised. "DIPPER!" the girl being held by the phoenixes screamed. Jason quickly maneuvered the winds, so his fall became more of an air tumble. It still looked like it hurt when he hit the ground, but not that much.

Piper's look of shock became one of happy confusion. "That's not a bald eagle... It's-"

"Hi guys," said a familiar voice from behind. They turned to see a black girl with beautiful curly brown hair and gold eyes, riding on a honey-brown stallion.

"Hazel!" Piper exclaimed. She noticed that the one phoenix still held the girl, and the other was trying to get past Frank the eagle and snatch the slowly recovering boy on the ground. "We'll catch up later! Jason, help Frank and get the other one! Hazel, keep the phoenix from the kid on the ground, and I'll try to charmspeak the monsters."

Jason agreed and flew up to the one holding the girl, trying to get it to relinquish its hold on her by flying around and trying to stab it in a weak spot. Finally, after dodging it a few times, he managed to get behind it, ready to stab its neck. But just as he brought his sword down, it somehow knew exactly where he was trying to hit it, and twisted its neck to the side. "What the-"

It twirled itself around and smacked him in the gut with its wing. Since it was blistering hot, it burned his shirt before he had a chance to pull away, though he was barely burned at all.

Meanwhile, Frank was having his own problems. While he was faster and more maneuverable, the phoenixes were bigger and stronger and didn't tire as easily. Finally, it slammed its head into him and knocked him against a tree. It raised its beak, about to strike, when the other heckled at it. The one stopped attacking Frank and squawked back. There was a brief fight of nasty bird noises, but it appeared that the other one won this disturbing debate.

The one attacking Frank hissed like a creepy Canadian goose, before flying off, the other one following, girl still clutched in its claws.

...

Falling down from twenty feet in the air probably should have hurt a lot more than it actually did. Dipper had actually survived way more dangerous falls, such as when Gideon had thrown him with his giant robot. He had still gotten a concussion and needed a few days of rest and painkillers, but he had not been too seriously injured.

However, he did know that you could seriously injure yourself falling from that far. Somehow, he had caught a weird wind current and fallen down at a much slower rate, banging himself slightly on the ground. It still hurt, but only gave him a few bruises. As it was, it still took him a few seconds to recover. But by then, it was too late.

He looked around, desperate to see his sister. What he saw was a couple of older girls holding strange gold swords. He looked up... Mabel! She was still being held in the talons of one of the birds, and another teenager, a boy, was... flying around her? Maybe he had another concussion, but he didn't think so. He forced himself to his feet and pushed past the girl, who gave a small noise of surprise. "Wait! Don't-"

He ignored her and ran towards the direction of the creatures, who were squawking and hissing at each other, before flying off. "MABEL!" he screamed, reaching out his hand as if he could somehow grab her from over fifty feet away. **(About 18 meters for metric users.)**

"DIPPER!" came the faint reply. "HELP ME!"

Dipper was about to charge into the woods in the direction, when he something grabbed him from behind, causing him to fall on his butt. "Oof." He twisted around to see it was the black girl with the sword. He scrambled backwards quickly, gripping _3_ inside his vest. "W-why do you have a sword?" he asked, voice trembling.

The girl looked at him in surprise. "You can see it?"

Dipper had met enough crazy monsters to know better than to trust someone with a sword. He edged back until his back touched the trunk of a tree, and glanced around the clearing. There were two paths; one that would follow the direction the monsters had taken Mabel, and another that would take him back to the Mystery Shack. While Ford, Stan, and Soos might be able to help him, it was blocked by the three teenagers who all looked bigger and stronger than him.

The girl with the long braided hair came up next to the one with the sword. "If he can see through the Mist, then we can't just tell him it was a freak eagle attack or something. I'll charmspeak him."

Dipper didn't like that term. "Wha-what's charmspeak?!"

She ignored that question and stepped a little closer. Dipper clutched _3_ for courage. She closed her eyes in concentration, then opened them, staring straight back at him. "You were cutting wood and some vultures attacked you. Your sister chased them off and she'll be back. You should go home or your parents will be worried about you."

Dipper's nerves immediately relaxed. That made sense. Mabel loved to chase animals. She was probably going to be back in just a second. After all, they needed to cut wood so that Grunkle Stan wouldn't... wait a sec. Mabel loved candy way too much to waste time chasing vultures. And Grunkle Stan would be really mad at him for losing Mabel. There was no way he could go back to the shack.

He tensed up, remembering something he had read in _2_ a little while ago. S _irens are powerful monsters that usually live near the water. They can lure people, especially men, with their enchanted voices and then eat them. The best way not to fall under their charms is to sing or listen to loud music._

Dipper gulped and shifted through his vest, grabbing his mini cassette player. He jammed the ear buds in and turned the music up very loud. 'Disco girl, coming through...' drowned out all the other sounds.

The two girls looked very shocked and confused. They said something to each other, which Dipper could not hear, thanks to the music. Now he just needed to get to the trail.

He took a deep breath and... burst into a full out run. He pushed through the two girls and ran for the dusty trail, just a few more feet away. He had almost reached it when the blonde boy he had seen earlier grabbed the back of his vest. Dipper didn't have time to stop, so he seized his journal from the pocket inside, and wrenched out of his grasp.

'Don't worry, Mabel!' he thought. 'I'm coming!'

...

Jason stared at the vest that he had just pulled from the kid. "What was that?"

Piper shook her head. "I'm just as confused as you are. I've never seen a mortal so alert. Even if he could see through the Mist, not only did he resist my charmspeak, he identified that he was being charmed."

Frank cruised down, turning into a human just as he reached the ground. "Well, from what we know of phoenixes, apparently they like to eat mortals who can see through the Mist?"

Hazel snapped her fingers. "That's why they attacked them! The other girl must be able to as well... Oh, gods." Her eyes widened.

"What?" Jason asked. "I don't like that expression."

"If the phoenixes already realized that that kid could see through the Mist, there's a good chance they could come back for him!" she gasped. "And he's heading right to them! We gotta catch him before it's too late!"

The four demigods nodded. "I'll turn into a crow and look for him. I'll come back to you guys if I find him. You guys search on the ground," Frank said. He transformed and flew on ahead.

"Let's go," Jason announced. And they started down the dusty trail, the kid's vest still clutched in hand.

 **Sorry for the late update. Work and school was hectic.**

 **Did ya guys see the finale of Star vs. FOE? It was really cute! You should watch it!**

 **Reviews and flames appreciated!**


	3. Gonna Get a Little Weird

**Important quick note. I uploaded this earlier than I intended (I usually like to finish the next chapter first), because Joaquin may be causing power outages in my area soon.** **So if I don't update for a little while, you know why.** **Kxuulfdqhv vxfn.**

 **I just got new glasses and they legit look just like the nerd glasses that "made Dipper look smart." Especially when I wear them with my Dipper hat. Pfft. Anways, continuing.**

Dipper panted as he raced through the woods, clutching the journal against his chest. Not only did he have to find Mabel, he had to worry about a siren and some creepy kids with swords. He was so distracted, he didn't even notice the tree root in his path until he caught his foot on it and slammed to the ground, journal flying from his hands.

"Oof," he grunted. "Ouch. What was- waaa!" He yelled with shock when he noticed the root had slowly started curling around his leg. He wrenched it out, and backed away, but there were roots everywhere, and they simultaneously lifted themselves up from the ground and started creeping towards him.

He ran towards the direction of the journal. Maybe it had something about it that could help him. He was almost there, just another foot or so, when a thick root wrapped around his stomach and lifted him upside down, his hat falling off. He gasped as it tightened around him, slowly sprouting tinier roots that started to wrap over the rest of his torso. "What is this?!"

He heard a small hissing sound from above him in the tree. He strained his neck and made out a small figure, maybe a little bigger than the fairies he had seen previously. It crawled slowly down the trunk of the tree and into the light, where it was joined by several other creatures.

It looked like a tiny person with dark skin, and bark for armor. Its hair was green, and its teeth were pointed. Long wings, similar to a dragonfly's, sprouted from its back.

Dipper was right. He had seen this creature in the journal. It was a spriggan, an evil fairy.

The one in front hissed again. "What's this? A naughty little child!" The other spriggans laughed. "He's a little scrawny, but I think he'll work!"

Dipper made a frantic grasp for _3_ , but it was just out of reach. He groaned in frustration. "What do you want with me!?"

"We want your life-force!" it said, tapping his head. "This tree gives us our food, but it needs special supplements in order to stay alive! The life-force of humans. Soon, you'll be integrated completely into the bark, and you'll just have been an unfortunate child who got too close to the supernatural."

Dipper tried to recall anything that might help him. If there was any way to defeat the spriggans, it must have been written in invisible ink, because he had not seen much more than their appearance and name in the journal. Even if he could reach it, his black light was in his vest, which he didn't have.

He really had only one option left. He inhaled and yelled. "HELP!"

...

Hazel, Piper, and Jason raced down the path, being careful not to trip, since they were holding sharp objects.

Suddenly, Hazel held her arm out suddenly, gesturing for the other two to stop. "Did you hear-?"

"HELP!" It sounded close by, maybe an eighth of a mile.

The group hastened forward, following the sound. They reached another clearing and came across a... well, let's just say it was bizarre, even by demigod standards. The kid they had been chasing was hanging upside down from a tree root, with bark slowly growing around him. He was unconscious, so he was clearly being slowly strangled. Around him were a plethora of nasty little monsters, like fairies mixed with grasshoppers. The journal he was carrying and the hat he wore were lying on the ground to the side.

Jason immediately rushed forward and slashed the root that was holding him up. He fell to the ground, and the root immediately started turning to dust and unraveling. The kid moaned, which at least meant he was still alive.

The little evil fairy monsters hissed with glee. "What's this-? A much more powerful life-force! We don't even need that little kid anymore! Get those teens!"

"Uh, Piper?" Jason called. "Any idea what these guys are?"

The monsters growled and spread their wings, flying towards the demigods, baring sharp teeth and fangs.

"None!" she yelled back, drawing her dagger. "My advice: Stab!"

Normally, that would be great advice, but these monsters weren't like any others Jason had fought before. His sword didn't disintegrate them into dust like it did with most monsters. Instead, it merely hit their armor and pushed them back. The three demigods didn't even notice the roots until they had started to intersect together, like a giant wooden birdcage.

"What the-" Hazel said. She tried to cut through, but the roots grew back faster than she could cut them down. "We have to get Frank's attention! Help!"

...

When Dipper came to, he was lying on the ground, with his vest, hat, and journal lying next to him. His ribs hurt, probably from being squeezed, and his head ached.

He stared without quite seeing. What had happened? There were the spriggans and... Now he was lying on the ground, a little bruised, but otherwise unharmed. He rolled over onto his stomach and lifted his head weakly. There were still spriggans, but they were focused on a new target. A mass of tree tendrils curled around something. He could dimly hear someone calling for help from inside.

That immediately snapped him out of his stupor. He grabbed his black-light from his vest and flicked it on, flipping through _3_ as he did so. Finally he reached the page. As he remembered, there wasn't a weakness for Spriggans written down, but when he shined his black-light… Okay, really, really weird weakness.

He put his vest back on. 'Ford, I really hope you're right!' he thought.

"Hey, Spriggans!" he yelled. They turned to him.

"Back for more, human?" the leader asked. "Get him!"

As the flock flew towards him, Dipper smiled with fake smugness. In reality, he was terrified, but he put his trust in his Grunkle. "You can try, but… look!" He turned around and pointed to the neck of his vest, revealing the tag was on the outside. "I've got my vest on inside out!"

It was one of those times that the solution was so ridiculous, it worked. The spriggans smashed into each other trying to stop.

"No!" they screeched. "How did you know!?"

Dipper nonchalantly shrugged. "Just a little advice from my Grunkle. Now, get out of here! Git!" he said, imitating Lazy Susan when she was trying to shoo raccoons from the refrigerator in the diner.

They scattered, yelling back high-pitched curses as they fled.

As soon as Dipper made sure they were gone, he hurried to the roots. "Hey, are you okay!?"

He heard whispering inside, before someone called back, "We're fine! But we're stuck. Stand back, we're gonna try to cut our way out!"

Dipper hefted the hatchet that he had put inside his vest earlier. "Hold on!" He started chopping as fast as he could, and heard cutting coming from within. Finally, the people inside managed to make a hole, and smashed the wooden prison to bits. And Dipper saw that they were...

"YOU?!" he gasped.

"YOU?!" the three teens said simultaneously.

Dipper turned to run farther away, but his legs failed as soon as he started. His adrenaline rush from earlier had completely faded.

The girl with the braid ran in front of him. "Look, calm down."

Dipper growled, and glared at her. "Why should I trust you!? You're just a siren! And you all have creepy golden swords! I'm pretty sure that normal people don't carry swords!"

"Siren?" the blond kid with glasses asked. "Piper's not a siren."

Before Dipper could respond to that, a crow flew down into the clearing. As soon as it landed on the ground, it transformed into a burly oriental kid.

The remaining air in Dipper's lungs escaped, along with his legs falling out from under him. "Sh-shapeshifter," he squeaked. He squeezed the handle of his hatchet a little tighter, and hugged _3_ against his chest.

The black girl groaned. "Frank, you probably freaked him out!"

"I've f-fought shapesh-shifters before!" Dipper stammered. He left out the part about how he had a lot of help (from a really awesome girl). "I'll axe you just like the other one!"

The black girl came forward. Dipper tried to calm his rapid breathing. He didn't even realize that tears were beginning to form in his eyes from his terror.

"It's alright," she said, and she sounded so honest, Dipper knew he wasn't being charmed. She kneeled down and gently pried the axe from his fingers. "I promise we aren't going to hurt you. And we're not monsters; we're kids, just like you."

Dipper brushed away his tears and rubbed the back of his hand where he had been burned. She looked at it. "Are you okay?" He hid it from her behind his arm. She pulled something from her backpack. "Here, this might help." She grabbed his hand and spread some ointment on it gently, before wrapping a bandage around it.

The pain went away almost immediately. Dipper flexed his fingers. "That feels... really good." The girl smiled warmly.

"Look, I know this is all really weird," she said, staring him straight in the eyes. "But we promise we won't hurt you. I'm Hazel. What's your name?"

Dipper hesitated, but granted her request. "I'm Dipper."

She raised an eyebrow, but didn't question the strangeness of the name. "Nice to meet you, Dipper. The girl with the braid is Piper, the guy with the glasses is Jason, and the other guy is Frank. We're not evil, we're just trying to kill those monsters."

Dipper's eyes widened. "They took my sister! I have to go after them! I have to find her!"

Hazel held him down, and Jason shook his head. "It's too dangerous. We have training and weapons, but you could get hurt! You have to go home so they don't come after you next. We promise we'll get your sister back."

Dipper's cheeks heated up with annoyance. He knew the real reason was because these kids thought they were so much more mature. He stood up and defiantly stared them down. "So you think I'm too young to help my own sister?" He took a deep breath. "I've faced off against dinosaurs, zombies, living wax figurines, almost been eaten alive by twenty-year-old Halloween candy, and fought sentient video game characters four times! Twice when I was in a game! Two days ago, I almost got mummified by a giant spider lady! I'm not gonna listen to a few teenagers who are only a couple of years older than me!" He exhaled. "And in case you didn't notice, I know these woods better than you do," he added.

The four kids stared at him. "Eaten by Halloween candy?" the one name Frank asked.

"Don't ask," Dipper waved the question aside. "Point is, if you don't let me come with you, I'll just go on my own."

The four teens looked at each other, simultaneously sighed, and said, "He's almost as bad as Percy."

"Fine," Jason, who seemed to be the leader, answered. "How do we get to the highest mountain?"

Dipper flipped through his journal. "Highest mountain… Follow me." He pushed aside a bush to reveal a carefully hidden path. "Thank you, Grunkle." And he headed up the trail, the teens right behind him.

 **Edit: I've been getting a few reviews and... Sorry, I should have specified. The two games Dipper was sucked into are Rumble's Revenge and Pinesquest, which you can play on for free. I recommend them, they are very fun!**

 **The inspiration for the spriggans came from Fairy Tail. Thanks, Mashima-sensei!**

 **Magic burn ointment! Made with cocoa butter, aloe vera, and powdered unicorn horn! Available now at a Demigodmart near you!**


	4. Gonna Get a Little Wild

***Dodges bricks* Sorry for the late update! I found a really good fanfiction (Be Careful Making Wishes in the Dark by Jaywings; it's Gravity Falls/Invader Zim), so I wasted several hours of my free time reading that, and work and school were also issues. I'm really sorry!**

Piper hung behind Hazel and Jason, walking next to Frank. She had the feeling that the kid, Dipper, didn't like them too much for their abilities. Every time she or Frank had said something, a dark look passed over his face, and he shot a glare at them.

Frank whispered, "This has got to be the weirdest mortal I've ever met. Immune to Mist, able to resist charmspeak, and you said he somehow got rid of those monsters that you couldn't even kill with Imperial Gold or Celestial Bronze?"

Piper muttered back, "To be fair, he was all strung up when we found him at first, so we technically saved him once. But, yeah."

They both looked back to the kid. He was flipping through an old dusty red book and muttering to himself. Finally, Piper couldn't take it anymore. "What's that?" she asked, desperate to break the tension.

He stopped and turned around, almost making Jason smash into him. "You can't have it," he told her, not even answering her question.

Piper resisted an internal groan. "I don't want it. I just want to know what it is."

He gave her a distrustful glare. "Last time I let someone see it, they almost killed me and my friends trying to get it from me."

Frank spoke up. "Why would you think we're the same way?"

"Oh, I don't know," Dipper answered sarcastically. "Maybe because… THEY WERE A SHAPE-SHIFTER!" He turned his back venomously on them. "C'mon, we have to go this way." He gestured to a tiny, barely visible path leading further up.

Piper caught Hazel's eye and gestured to the kid. 'You try,' she mouthed.

Hazel got the message. "Is it a map?" she asked.

Dipper gave her a sideways glance and slipped it back into his vest. "You know what? Let's not talk about it anymore. All you need to know is that you can't have it. Like, thanks for the weird burn stuff and all," he said, waving his bandaged hand, "but I still don't trust people who try to charm me."

"Geez, paranoid much?" Jason grumbled quietly.

"Or people who can fly," Dipper added, not turning around. "So far, it seems like… um, your name was Hazel, right?" Hazel nodded. "Is the most normal one of you!" he told them.

Hazel rubbed her hand on the back of her neck. If they wanted this kid to trust them, they couldn't exactly tell him that she had died once and could summon jewels.

Speaking of jewels, as they walked along, Piper noticed little crystals stuck in the ground. They were small and white. The weird thing was the light filtering through them was always blue on one side and pink on the other.

Hazel knelt down to get a better look at them. "I've never seen anything like these before." She was about to pull it out of the dirt, but Dipper noticed.

"No, no, no!" he exclaimed. "Don't touch that!"

Hazel stopped her hand an inch away. All four of the demigods gave him a weird look. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He pushed aside a fern and grabbed something from underneath. Holding it in cupped hands, he brought it over. "This is what happens when something gets too close to one of those." In his hands was a living, breathing, tiny white-tailed deer three inches long.

"Whoa!" said Frank, backing away, and pulling Hazel back with him. "What the heck?!"

After placing the miniscule deer gently on the ground, he answered, "This whole town is crazy. And that's why I don't trust anyone."

The demigods exchanged glances. That really wasn't something a twelve-year-old should be saying. Or anyone.

A rustling in the brush broke the silence. The quintet's heads shot up. The demigods drew their weapons and stepped in front of Dipper, who started murmuring softly under his breath. "Please don't be Jeff. Or a gremgoblin. Or the stomach-faced duck. If it's real."

Whatever Jeff or Gremgoblin or "Stomach-faced-duck" was, the creature that appeared was much, much, much more terrible.

It looked as though someone had ripped all the appendages off several grizzly bears and glued them back together on one body. It was limping and had several wounds on it, but it still looked plenty dangerous

Dipper gasped behind them, and the demigods charged forward.

"Wait! Wait! Stop!" Dipper yelled, running in front and spread his arms out like a human shield.

Jason pulled his sword away in the nick of time. Even though it wouldn't have hurt him at all, it would have shattered the almost non-existent trust he had him them.

The bear lifted its biggest head and turned to face the much smaller child. "Dipper?" it asked. The demigods tried to contain their surprise, though, it wasn't the first monster they'd seen talk.

...

Dipper turned around, relieved. "Multi-Bear! I thought you were a bad monster and..." he took in the cuts, badly twisted limbs, and burns covering his body. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!"

The multi-bear lay down on the ground. "Wounded, but I'll heal."

Dipper turned back to the teens. "Guys, this is the Multi-bear. He's one of the few, actually friendly monsters living in the woods."

"'Sup?" Jason said meekly.

Dipper patted one of the lesser heads gently, making it growl in contentment. "What happened?" he asked, gesturing to the scars.

Multi-bear frowned. "I was just listening to Babba's greatest hits, when these nasty giant bird things came. I've never seen them around before. If it was just one, I'd probably be able to kill it, but there were four of them, and I still only have one body, even if I have six heads."

"Wait… Did you say four?" Dipper questioned in alarm.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked.

"Oooh, my gosh…" Dipper moaned. He looked back to the teens. "Weren't there only two?" They nodded. He took a deep breath. "Don't worry Multi-Bear; we'll get your cave back. These guys know how to kill them."

The Multi-Bear sniffed and gave them a dark look. "Thank you. Just follow the trail up and you should be able to reach it." As Dipper started to follow them, the multi-bear pulled him back silently.

"Dipper," he muttered to him, "be careful around those kids. They don't smell quite right. And when you're an animal, you always trust your nose. And your ears, when trying to figure out the best Babba song."

A shiver went down his spine. "I-I'll remember. Thanks," he replied, voice cracking slightly.

He trotted to catch back up to the teens, leaving the multi-bear settling down in the leaves and dirt for some rest.

...

"S-so..." Frank began, making Dipper start slightly. "You're friends with that bear... How'd you meet?"

Dipper looked at him skeptically, but replied after a second. "I, uh, wanted to be a man, so I asked some... other monsters that lived in the forest how to be one. They... taught me a lot, like how to climb trees really well, and how to not be a wimp to pain, but... they asked me to kill the multi-bear, and I would have, but... I don't know... I realized he wasn't a bad guy, and maybe that you shouldn't listen to someone who makes you do all these hard, terrible things just because you think you're helping yourself."

Dipper was looking at the ground, so he didn't see Frank and Jason exchange a look of pain. They sometimes wondered themselves why they did all the hard and painful things the Olympians asked them to do.

After walking in silence for about half-an-hour they reached the mouth of a cave. Dipper held out his hand to stop. "Okay, what's the plan?"

The demigods exchanged a look. "We can't bring you in. The phoenixes will automatically go after you."

Dipper cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"We can't tell you," Hazel replied. "It's just important that you don't go in."

"Well," he replied, getting defiant edge to his tone, "then you really don't have a good reason. I'll just go in by myself, if I have to."

"Don't!" Frank told him. "You're dead meat if you do."

"Then let me come in."

Jason sent a pleading look to Piper, who just shook her head. Charmspeak was out, and Hazel's Mist wouldn't work.

"Fine," Jason agreed. "But you have to stay behind us until we tell you to come out."

Dipper looked like he was about to argue, but then thought better of it. "Okay." Jason held out his hand to shake. Dipper just pulled down his cap and turned away.

Hazel looked to the mouth of the cave. "Well, what is the plan?"

Jason gripped the hilt of his sword. "There are four of them and four of us. While we're distracting, you can grab your sister. Then, run down to the base of the mountain with her. We'll take care of the monsters."

"That sounds like an idea that will get you dead," Dipper replied, crossing his arms. "But that's your problem. All I want is my sister back."

Frank tried to ignore the chilling vibe this kid gave off. Like he'd seen death up close and personal. (Frank, for one, actually had, and did not act this creepy.)

"Then I guess we're all in agreement?" Piper said uneasily. The group collectively nodded. "Let's go then."

….

True to his word, Dipper did stay behind the teens, who ventured forward with their swords. He gripped 3, ready to pull it out if he needed to say a spell quickly.

Peering out from behind the leader guy, Jason, Dipper looked around the cave, desperate to look for the familiar color of fluorescent purple that was his sister's sweater. And strangely enough, there it was. She had her back turned to them, so they couldn't see her face, but Dipper's twin sense was tingling, and he knew it was her. He ran towards her, forgetting his deal. The teens followed right behind, telling him to stop. "Mabel!"

She whirled around. "Dipper?" She then gasped. "Don't come any closer! It's a trap!"

Too late. The four bird monsters leapt out from the shadows, somehow able to extinguish their incredible brightness for the moment. Dipper grabbed the collar of Mabel's sweater and dragged her back towards them.

When he had almost gotten back, one snapped at him, almost taking a chunk of his vest. He expected it to be the end, when he heard a feminine voice command, "STOP!"

The birds hissed but lowered their heads, and simply took to surrounding the group. Mabel and Dipper hugged each other for protection. "It's not the phoenixes you have to worry about," Mabel whimpered, "it's…" She pointed to the ceiling of the cave.

Dipper followed her gaze and gasped, yet at the same time, it started to make a little bit of sense. A transparent pale figure floated at the top. A ghost.

Dipper couldn't make much out from the distance, but it looked as though it was maybe about seventeen or eighteen.

She looked down at Mabel. "Well, you were right about your brother coming, but it looks like my prey was dumb enough to come, too."

She drifted down till she was about ten feet from the ground. "Hello, demigods. I think that you'll be joining my phoenixes for dinner."

 **And so, more will be revealed next chapter.**


	5. Confrontation and Escape

**Welp, Weirdmageddon came and I'm hunkered down in my basement, stewing cave crickets, and making a radio out of a refrigerator motor. (Maniacal laugh)**

Dipper gripped the back of Mabel's sweater, tugging her a little closer to him. "A ghost..." He mouthed back to the teens, "Don't say anything. I'm gonna see if I can calm her down enough to let me exorcise her." He flipped through his journal until he found the section. "I think she's possessing the phoenixes," he whispered. "That makes her a category 8."

She drifted down a little further. "Wow," she said, actually looking impressed. "That's kinda cool. What else does it say about me?"

Dipper, knowing from experience that he had to go slow with ghosts, said, "Uh, well: 'Ghosts always have some kind of reason for existing, usually having to do with their death. It's almost always along the lines of regret, loneliness, or revenge.'" He closed the book and looked back up to her. "Um, is there something bothering you we can help with?" He asked, hoping she did not have a vendetta against the living.

She gave him a cold smile. Now that she was closer, Dipper could see she had dirty blond hair in a braid and brown eyes. All in all, if she hadn't been floating and transparent, she'd look pretty normal if it weren't for the claw marks that had shredded through her shirt, quite obviously the cause of her death. "Well, you're not bothering me. You're nice enough, and you and your sister are a little like I was. Them, on the other hand…" she pointed to the teens standing around them. "They're bothering me." Her eyes took on a glowing red color, and the phoenixes growled in agitation.

"Uh, well, we met ghosts that don't like teens before, but-"

"That's retarded," she said, cutting him off. "Of course teens aren't my problem. What do you think I am? Besides dead. A teen." She sneered, and Dipper noted how the air smelled like phosphate, as though someone was lighting a match. She took a deep breath, even though she obviously didn't need to breathe, and the smell became less pungent. "Of course, they wouldn't tell you, so I guess I can't blame you for being naïve. Just give me your journal and you and your sister can leave. I'd really rather not get you involved."

Dipper wrapped his arms around _3_. Why was everyone after his journal? "Why do you want it?"

She examined her nails in boredom, obviously not worried of anyone escaping. "Let's just say, that journal is a little too powerful for you. Even if your uncle is back, that's way too dangerous of a plaything."

"You can't have it!" Mabel shouted, surprising Dipper with this outburst. "The last time someone tried to take it, I almost lost my brother forever. Since it's so important to him, I'm not gonna let you steal it!"

The ghost glowed a little more strongly, her outline taking on a slightly red tint. The phoenixes stirred in annoyance, longing to attack. "As I was telling you earlier, Mabel, I have no interest in hurting you two. I just want the four behind you."

"Why is everyone always after us?" Jason sighed, as though this was an everyday occurrence. "Look, sorry person I've never met before, living or dead, but we promise we had nothing to do with your death."

Now, saying the ghost exploded wouldn't actually be too far off her reaction. Her hair turned into flames, and her eyes glowed white, like Pa from the convenience store. "THIS IS WHY I HATE YOUR KIND! ALWAYS ACTING LIKE YOUR AFFAIRS DON'T AFFECT MORTALS; LIKE YOU'RE THE ONLY ONES WHO MONSTERS ARE AFTER!" she screamed.

Dipper slammed his hands over his ears at the sudden outburst, silently cursing. It was way more time consuming and difficult to exorcise an agitated ghost then one that was contained or calm.

The ghost's hair turned back to normal and her eyes returned to their brown color, though she still looked supremely peeved.

Dipper tried to understand what the ghost had just said. 'Your kind,' 'mortals,' 'monsters are after'… it didn't make any sense. It didn't seem like the teens were quite human, but… they didn't seem exactly evil, either.

Frank shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe you could just calm down a little… I really don't like fire. I mean, I had a friend who could make fire, but-"

"Frank!" Hazel shushed him. "Look, it's better if you just go to the afterlife. Whatever happened to you… if you were a good person, you'll be fine."

"Ha!" the ghost mocked her. "Your father rules a horrible place. If you fit in, try to live as best you can, you spend all eternity as a mindless spirit. That little 'paradise' is reserved solely for you 'heroes'. I'm not bound to the underworld, which means those little magic weapons of yours won't affect me."

Dipper had no idea what she was talking about, but the others seemed pretty disturbed. While they stared in shock, Mabel tugged Dipper's vest. Dipper glanced at her. She gestured to the back of the cave. Dipper, after making sure the ghost was paying no attention, followed her gaze, and did a double take. A small tunnel, about 3 feet tall, led further into the mountain, like a passage. If they could just get to that...

They needed a distraction. Dipper immediately knew what to do. He had been saving it as a surprise for Mabel, but this was more important. He quietly slipped a string of firecracker into his hand, and pulled a lighter out of his pocket (Stan had drilled in his head that he should always have one, in case of emergencies.) Then he looked at the phoenixes, however, he got a better idea. He edged over to Mabel and passed some into her hand, holding his finger to his lips, and gesturing to the phoenixes. Her eyes widened in understanding, and she carefully distributed about half into her other hand. Dipper did the same with his, and watched for a perfect moment for a distraction. As he did so, he listened to the conversation of the others.

"-don't get it." Frank said. "You were mortal, how did you find out?

The ghost growled. "Since you're dying, I guess I'll tell you. But first of all, you!" She pointed to Dipper. "Give me the journal! Then get out!"

Dipper pretended to actually be contemplating giving it to her. "Just don't hurt- Now, Mabel!"

Mabel, who had great reactions, flung her firecrackers onto the flaming feathers of the two phoenixes on the right, while Dipper did the same to the ones on the left.

The effect was instantaneous; maybe fire didn't have an effect on phoenixes, but gunpowder sure did. They screamed, while the ghost blinked in surprise and soared up to the roof where she had a clear view.

Though the air was full of sparks and bitter smelling gunpowder smoke, Dipper managed to just distinguish the tunnel at the end. "That- cough-way!" he choked out. He dodged in between the phoenixes, and hoped the others were following him.

However, it definitely was not easy. The ground was full of divots and rocks which were easy to trip on. "Okay," Piper said. She grabbed his arm and tugged him, running across the rough cave floor with ease.

They were almost there when the ghost yelled, "There!"

A phoenix emerged from the smoke and snapped at him. Piper wrenched him to the side, pulled her jagged sword out, and sliced its neck in one smooth fluid movement. It fell to the ground and turned to ash.

Dipper's lungs almost exploded at the close call, and tried not to squeak like a little girl. "Nice one."

"Firecrackers were good too," she grinned. Her eyes were a little sad, though. "You're pretty resourceful."

They charged into the tunnel, Mabel and the other teens right behind.

"No!" the ghost howled, almost inhumanly. "Get them!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Hazel rushed forward and made a grasping gesture towards the ceiling. A web of cracks appeared, and the rocks fell down, covering up the entrance to the tunnel, and cutting off all light.

There was collective coughing between the group.

"Well," Jason said. "That could have gone better.

...

Piper heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. A faint gold glow from Hazel's sword lit up the immediate vicinity.

"Well, at least we're away from the phoenixes," Dipper said, a nervous smile on his face. There was a banging on the rocks, making them all jump.

"Can we maybe get a little further away?" Frank requested. Everybody loved that idea. Mabel pulled a flashlight out of her sweater, providing a little more light.

As they walked down the tunnel, Mabel, who seemed much more trusting than Dipper, introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Mabel. But you can call me the most awesome person on earth."

"Mabel," Dipper said, face still stuck in his journal, "at least have a little dignity while introducing yourself."

"I see you've already met my dorky downer of a brother," Mabel said, making a face like she was analyzing the situation well. "But don't let that make you judge all us Pines! Me and Grunkle Stan know how to have a good time, unlike this guy!"

"What is a 'grunkle'?" Frank asked. "Is it some American slang I don't understand?"

"If it is, you got me," Jason said. "I have never heard of it myself."

"He's our great uncle," Dipper explained, looking up. "He didn't want us to be so formal every time we talked to him, so we just started calling him Grunkle, and the name sort of stuck." He returned to reading his journal again. "Hey, Mabel, I think Ford was here before. Look: 'While exploring today, I found a mysterious cave, inhabited by a creature whose claw marks I did not recognize. Upon closer inspection, I discovered a tunnel leading farther into the mountain. After following it along, I came to a puzzling cave drawing. I will input further entries as I discover more.' But I guess he got really busy, because that's right about where all the entries stop."

"That's weird. I wonder if something that he found distracted him from all his-oof!" Mabel grunted as she walked straight into the back of her brother. "Don't just stop in the middle of…" she trailed off, following Dipper's gaze. "Why is…?"

Piper didn't see why they both seemed so startled. It was just a strange crude drawing of a triangle with one eye.

 **I'm changing my username to Chi-chi's Poptart on the 10th, so it's still me, in case I don't post before then.**

 **Hope you had a good Halloween! (Random story; I was watching the Simpsons Halloween special, and when they mentioned vampires, the side of my neck started aching. Uh, oh.)**


	6. Pain and Vengeance

**Last chapter, and I wanted to say I'm a little sad to say goodbye, but relieved as well. Thank you for all your support. Merry Christmas, and God Bless.**

 **Belongs to Alex Hirsch and Rick Riordan.**

"She made a deal with Bill," Dipper said aloud, not talking to anyone in particular. "This… it's a spell to summon him."

Mabel gulped. She wasn't really afraid of Bill, but she did hate him. He had almost given the code to the safe of the Mystery Shack to Gideon, and he had possessed Dipper's body, which, for a while, had been pretty funny but got really scary when he had threatened to drop her from almost twenty feet in the air.

Hazel frowned at the picture. "For some reason, this unsettles me. What does it mean?"

Dipper turned around, eyes wide with alarm. "Bill is this demon who's been lurking around for a long time. I don't know what he's after…" his eyes glanced to the right for split second, "but whatever it is, it's definitely not for the benefit of humanity." He took a deep breath. "He's really smart and powerful, though, so he likes to make deals with people so that they do stuff for him, though he doesn't always hold up his side of the bargain."

"Dipper made a deal with him once, and he ended up as a sock puppet," Mabel inputted "helpfully."

"Mabel! Shut up!" Dipper shushed her.

"He turned you into a sock puppet?" Jason asked, obviously trying hard to conceal his amusement.

"Ugh. No, he turned me into a ghost, and I had to possess a sock puppet to talk to people," Dipper explained. "And I know it sounds funny," he said, glaring at Mabel, Frank, and Piper who were looking at the floor, shaking with silent laughter, "but it wasn't. Being a ghost is not fun. Although, you can phase through walls, which is kinda cool."

"Speaking of ghosts," Piper said, "why doesn't that ghost just come in here? I mean, maybe her phoenixes can't, but she could still follow us."

"Actually, her kind of ghost can't." Dipper held up the journal and pointed the flashlight. "She's possessing the phoenixes, the same way some other ghosts can possess humans. But since she already attached her soul to them, she can't go anywhere the phoenixes can't. So as long as we stay here, we should be fine."

"But we're not going to," Jason added, "because we need to get rid of those things before they hurt more people. And help your… weird bear thing."

"Uh... yeah," Dipper said. "I guess you do. But... you sealed up the tunnel." He gestured to Hazel.

She hid her hands behind her back. "It's an acquired skill."

"Right..." Dipper said. "Well, it looks like there is another path. It'll take us to a cave a little further down the mountain, but I've never been inside it."

"That's fine," Jason decided. "You two can go home, and we can fight the phoenixes on our own."

"Dude, I still think you're gonna die, but whatever," Dipper answered casually.

"Dipper!" Mabel scolded. "I think we should help."

"Seriously Mabel?" he questioned. "You know how teenagers and adults are; they think that they're so superior and that they can do everything better than you because you're younger. That's why I like hanging out with Soos and Stan; they at least take us seriously."

Mabel did have to admit that older teens and adults often did act that way, but this was important. Just because they acted that way, didn't mean they shouldn't help. "Well, how about we provide backup? If you guys get in trouble, we can always jump to the rescue, Mystery Twins!" She grabbed Dipper's arm and forced it up.

The teens still shook their heads. "You'll get yourselves killed," Hazel told them. "First things first, though; we need to get out. Lead the way."

"Uh..." Dipper flicked through the pages and switched on his black light. "We have to follow this tunnel." He pointed to a path on the left.

Mabel trailed a little bit behind in order to... well, it wasn't eavesdropping, per se, but... Okay, it was eavesdropping. Sue her.

"Hazel," Frank whispered, "Don't you know the way out? You know how to navigate through caves better than a bat."

She was silent for a minute. "I guess... Maybe I'm just used to our parents bossing us to do all their dirty work, that I don't think that telling some kid that they're not competent enough to do something on their own is another way of bossing people around. This kid is so weird. He really makes you think."

While Mabel didn't care about supernatural powers like her brother did, she did care what people thought about them. And she thought these kids seemed nice, and she wanted her brother to like them, too.

She scooched a little closer to the teens. "Ya'know," she whispered, "my brother isn't trying to be rude. It's just that when Bill tricked him, he just became kinda paranoid. Seriously, it freaks him out every time someone wants to shake hands, or tips their hat, or winks, or whatever!"

She had raised her voice somewhat during this tangent, and Dipper heard her. "What-? I do not!"

Mabel scoffed. "Come on, bro-bro. Seriously, you wouldn't go around Gompers for a week just because he has yellow eyes. I think you're paranoid."

Dipper held his hands up in defeat. "Alright, I will admit I was a little jumpy…"

"A little?"

"But I'm not that way anymore!" Dipper objected.

"Then why are you so paranoid and rude around these guys?" Mabel gestured to the teens. "If they were sirens or trolls or chupa-capybara or whatever they could have killed us a long time ago! And they wouldn't have bothered coming here to save me!"

Dipper opened his mouth to reply, and then shut it. "I- uh… Trust no one!"

"Dipper," Mabel said sympathetically, "maybe we've run into some pretty bad people that we shouldn't have trusted. But think of all the wonderful weirdness we've run into, too, like Mermando and the multi-bear! Do you really want to be alone because you won't trust anyone for your entire life?"

Dipper's eyes widened in realization. There were a few people that, he did admit, had been worth the time to get to know them. Robby, Mcgucket, Pacifica... Well, maybe he wasn't friends, per se, with Robby, but he wasn't on strangling terms with him anymore. "I-" his voice made a very prominent crack, due to puberty. He cleared his throat. "I guess you're right." He turned to the teens. "Look, dudes, I'm sorry. Mabel is right. I was really rude, when you were just trying to help me. C-can I start over?" Dipper asked, shamefully.

"Hey, man, no problem." Jason grinned.

Dipper actually did meekly grin back.

Mabel, on the other hand, grinned very wide.

...

Hazel mentally charted the path they needed to take, and made sure they were following it. To her surprise, they had not taken a single wrong turn. She had to give Dipper credit; that journal was spot on.

"I think we're almost there…" Dipper said, carefully noting every twist and branch in the path. He turned left, and finally, after walking about fifty feet, turned right. At the end of the tunnel, there was sunlight, literally the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Wow…" Frank said, impressed. "Good job. I can't say I'm not a little surprised we didn't get lost."

Dipper looked a little annoyed, but took it silently. Hazel assumed he felt bad about being kind of a rude little kid earlier. "I guess I really should go for good this time. And take Mabel with me." He sound a little bit upset.

"It's probably safer that way," Piper agreed. "But, I gotta say; out of all the twelve-year-olds I've met, you're the ones I'd most want to have at my back."

Dipper grinned. Maybe it was part of Piper's ability to make people feel good just by talking, but it sounded sincere, and besides, Dipper seemed to be immune, to an extent.

As they prepared to leave, Dipper gave them a few pointers on the ghost. "She's possessing the phoenixes, so if she can see you, she'll make them follow you. If you manage to hold them all down, she won't be able to go anywhere."

That gave Hazel an idea. A crazy, very dangerous idea that might actually work. "I think I could do something about that."

They ventured out into the tunnel, and found that it opened into a cave similar to the Multi-bear's, but much closer to the foot of the mountain.

"Well, seeya," Dipper said lamely.

"BYEEEEEE!" Mabel yelled. "And also, Piper, your hair is very lovely. I've gotta try something like that braid for Candy!"

"Uh… Thanks?" Piper replied, no doubt wondering who Candy was.

However, as soon as the group stepped out of the tunnel, disaster struck.

All four phoenixes landed so heavily at the mouth of the cave, the ground shook, setting everyone off balance. The ghost floated out from behind them. "It's a shame, Dipper," she chided. "I didn't want to have to kill you and Mabel, but I really need that journal."

…

Dipper's chest went 'clunk', as he realized the danger of the situation they were in. 'Of course!' he thought. 'They're phoenixes; they rise from the ashes. Even if they're not in the journal, I know that.' Dipper had always had a fascination with fantasy.

The others appeared to have similar thoughts, though Mabel looked confused.

"Well, this just makes my plan even better," Hazel said.

The ghost wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "I hate demigods. Always acting like they know how to fix every problem."

Dipper was not entirely sure he would be helpful in this situation, so he pulled Mabel back. "Uh, I'll wait here."

Jason nodded to his friends. "You know what to do."

And they split up, each taking on a phoenix. The ghost floated above, where she could keep a careful eye on them. Since she was controlling the phoenixes, as long as she kept an eye on their opponents, she could always coordinate their moves perfectly.

At first, it did seem like the teens were doing pretty well. They were obviously well trained in the use of their swords and in Frank's case, bow. They would hit the phoenixes in their vitals, and they would disintegrate to ash. But almost as soon as they did so, they started to rise out again, first as chicks, but rapidly growing into adults.

And as the phoenixes fought, the ghost began to see patterns in the teen's attacks, and controlled them to make them be able to dodge better. Finally, the teens were beginning to tire very quickly, and the phoenixes were slightly slower, but still going strong.

"Ugh, there's gotta be something in here that can help!" Dipper said frantically. He flipped through the ghost pages, even under black light, but all he found was a note about ghost turnips trying to force Ford to eat veggies.

The teens were really weakening now. Piper had a scratch on her face, and Frank who had turned into a bear to fight, was keeping one paw off the ground, as though it hurt to put pressure on.

Mabel tugged his shoulder. "What?"

"I have an idea!" she gushed. "If she made a deal with Bill, why don't you look on the page with Bill and see if there's anything?"

Dipper thought that was ridiculous, but looked anyway. Crazily enough, when he showed the black light on the page, there was something. Maybe Mabel did take after Ford a tiny bit.

"Wait, it's like a more advance version of the mind-entering spell! It allows you to enter the mindscape, like when Bill pulled my soul out!" he said as loudly as he dared. "If I was in the mindscape, I might be able to distract her for a few seconds. I've gotta do this." He opened his mouth in order to start chanting, but was stopped by Mabel.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed. "Something could go wrong! What if you get stuck?!"

Dipper pulled his arm out of her grasp. "Mabel, I have to do this! They're gonna die, and she's gonna get the journal!"

He opened his mouth again, but was stopped once more. "Wait… Let me do it," she said slowly.

Dipper couldn't quite comprehend what she just said. "W-what?"

"I think we can both agree I'm the more distracting of us! Let me do it!" she told him.

He shook his head. "You can't! I've been a ghost before, and it's hard to maneuver. I already know how to do it!"

Mabel grabbed his arm. "Dipper, I almost lost you forever because I was selfish and something like this happened. My brother and my best friend! Let me do it!" Dipper stopped short of arguing when he saw her eyes tearing up.

"Okay," Dipper relented. "But promise you'll be careful."

"No problem!" She grabbed the book and began to carefully sound out the Latin words, stumbling a bit, but getting pointers from Dipper when necessary.

Finally she ended on, "umbra pugno!" Her eyes glowed white, then shut suddenly.

Dipper hugged her. "Mabel!"

A familiar voice from behind him said, "Woah, this is hard, but it's kinda fun!"

He turned and saw his sister, same old smile, same old sweater, just translucent and floating three feet above the ground. "Don't worry bro-bro! I got this!" And she rocketed forward, leaving her nervous brother behind.

…

Jason was pretty sure they were done for. As far as monster's fighting skills went, the phoenixes were actually not that strong or hard to fight and dodge. However, the whole "Rising from the ashes thing" made it a little more difficult to fight them, mostly because they were fully recovered, and the demigods were tiring quickly. Plus the heat they gave off made it difficult to focus, and blistered his face, branding him slightly when it heated up the metal in his glasses. But the most difficult part of all was that the ghost was controlling them. She could predict attacks and get the bird monsters to dodge when she saw an attack they had used before.

Finally, out of the corner of his eye, he saw one land a hit with its blistering talons on Piper's arm. She cried out in pain, and Jason, distracted, was slammed into the cave wall.

The ghost laughed inhumanly, flames licking the side of her face.

Then, suddenly, she let out a startled yelp, like someone who slipped on ice; a very human sound.

The phoenix shook its head in confusion and the glassy look in its eyes disappeared, as though trying to figure out what it was doing here. It chirped to its companions in slight distress. That was before Piper stabbed hers through the chest, Jason sliced off the head of his, and Hazel and Frank finished theirs off in a similar fashion.

Though the ashes were slowly reforming, the immediate threat was gone. The ghost was distracted by… another ghost? They had brown hair and were wearing a sweater… wait, that was Mabel, except she was now pearly white and translucent, floating several feet above the ground, and grappling the taller ghost.

Dipper had grabbed the body of his sister and hauled her up in his arms, and was trying to drag her towards the entrance. "She's fine," he yelled to the startled Half-Bloods. "We just need to get out of here." Frank hurried over and grabbed her from Dipper.

Hazel took a deep breath. "Keep her and the phoenixes distracted; I need concentration." She closed her eyes.

"That's what you get for trying to mess with my friends!" Mabel shouted, pulling the ghost's braid. She screeched in pain, evidently still able to feel.

"That stupid journal!" she howled. "It's not fair that you get something like that to defend yourself with! I died because of people like them, and I didn't have anything to help myself!"

That caught Jason's attention. He hurriedly stomped through the ashes of a reforming phoenix and yelled up at her, "What do you mean?!"

She hissed, but something in her face betrayed her anger. She looked… shattered, like she was tired and scared, and most of all, miserable, all at once. She looked like she was so messed up, she couldn't even decide how she felt. Ghostly tears ran down her cheeks, much to the surprise of Mabel, though she still kept a grip on her.

"I hate you all!" she screamed. "When my mom died, it was just me and my dad! We didn't have a lot, but we had enough! W-we were happy!" She sobbed, raising her arms up. Disturbingly, it seemed to be having an effect on the phoenix ashes, making them rise faster.

"Then, that 'woman' came! Athena. Sh-she loved my dad, because he was re-really smart," she wept. "But I wasn't. I w-was just normal. And my dad didn't have any t-time left for me." She tried to fight Mabel off, but she kept her grip firm, and tugged at the girl. But the ghost still continued her story, though she was obviously expending a lot of energy and concentration.

"One day, sh-she left. I thought that was the end. That it could all go back to normal. But he still loved her, and I-I was j-just this dumb little kid. He di-didn't even look at me the same anymore!" Weird other-worldly currents began swirling around her. "Then I f-found out that I ha-had a half-brother, Aleixo . And he w-was smart, even when he was little."

Hazel, was still deep in concentration, but frowned. She looked tired as well. Maybe it was Jason's imagination, but he swore he felt some rumbling.

The ghost hung limply, and Mabel stopped fighting her. "And he never looked at me at all. I was just someone he _had_ to take care of, not someone he loved." She wiped her nose, tears streaming down her face and fading once they dripped off. "Then, six years later, the monsters came. I w-was going to leave for college soon. I could sort of see them; they were kind of blurry. But they sc-scared me! The campers came, and they grabbed my brother. They y-yelled at me to stay away and I'd be fine. But they were wrong." She glared, and the cave increased in temperature by about forty degrees.

"They knew I could see them, the big dogs," she growled. "And they ripped me up." She gestured to her shirt. "I died before they finished, but I was literally nothing more than a pile of cloth, hair, and blood when they were done with me. I watched them do it."

"The d-demigods were gone. They had assumed that I wouldn't be hurt, but they always seem to think that they were superior to mortals." she hissed.

The phoenixes burst out of the ashes, fully formed. Mabel tried to restrain and distract her, but the ghost was burning through her powers, and Mabel couldn't get close. "I was stuck like this, in the mindscape, eternally feeling hatred and pain. Then, a mysterious creature came to me. He offered to give me a way to get my revenge, the one thing that would get me out of the mindscape, in return for destroying that journal. I said yes."

The phoenixes closed in, burning too hot for the demigods to get close to. "I'm sorry, Dipper, Mabel, but I need to do this, and if the price is killing two innocent kids, well… let's just say the cost is painful, but worth it."

"GOT IT!" Hazel yelled. The rumbling was definite now, and the stalactites in the cave began to break off.

"Wha-what?!" She screamed. "No, no, no! Stop! STOP IT! I need this! I CAN'T EXIST LIKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Hazels stumbled but was caught by Piper. "Everybody out! It's coming down!"

The phoenixes surged forward, but were stopped Frank shot an arrow with a bomb onto the cave roof. Rocks dropped from the roof, turning the phoenixes to dust.

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled. "Get back here!"

"Way ahead of you, bro!" she soared past him and right back into her body. She blinked a second, before remembering where she was. "Ugh, that was weird. Come on, let's get out of here!"

They raced towards the entrance of the cave. The ghost tried to stop them, her eyes dripping with liquid fire, and flames wracking her entire body, but she could not pursue them, as though held back by a leash.

"I CAN'T BE LIKE THIS ANYMORE! STOP!" she howled.

Jason turned to face her, even though the cave was crashing down. "What is your name?"

She seemed genuinely stunned by the fact he had stopped running to ask such a simple question. "J-Jessica Sullen."

"I promise I will find your sibling, and make them remember you. And I swear I will never, ever, let what happened to you, happen to someone else," he said solemnly.

She blinked, and her eyes regained their brown color. "Don't leave! I'm so lonely!"

"I'm sorry," Jason said. "I have to keep a promise I made to a friend." She sobbed again, and Jason could not recall ever feeling more pity for someone.

….

They made it out of the cave somehow. They ran down the mountain, until they were completely exhausted, and could barely breathe. At least, the teens, who had been fighting phoenixes, needed a break. Dipper, who was feeling rather winded, was glad as well.

"So, is she trapped under there forever?" Piper asked.

Dipper sighed. "I don't know. She could go back to the mindscape, but she probably would be too weak to manifest again, and she wouldn't be able to get the phoenixes back." He turned to Hazel, who was looking a bit tired, but applying some burn ointment to herself. "That was… really cool. Now, every time they rise from the ashes, they get crushed again."

She smiled a bit weakly. "I'm pretty resourceful. I'd rather not have to do that every day, though. It's nice to get your monster slaying done in time for dinner."

"Time…" Mabel muttered. "Oh no! Dipper, what time is it?!"

He glanced at his watch. "Uh, 5:15?"

Mabel groaned. "Oh, great. No sweets for two weeks! And at this rate, we'll get grounded too."

That brought the bet they had made with Stan back to his mind. "Oh… We're in so much trouble."

"What is it?" asked Piper.

"We have to get back to the Mystery Shack, and finish wood chopping. Only, we're probably gonna be out all night…" Dipper explained regretfully.

"Uh," Frank put up his hand. "Do you want any help?"

"Even if you did, there's no way we could be there on time," Mabel replied, saturnine.

"I think there's a way…" Hazel said, trying to hide her smile. She turned to Frank. "Can't freak 'em out more than we already did, right?"

And soon, Dipper, Mabel, and the teens were flying on top of a dragon.

Dipper whooped. "This is awesome!"

Dragon-Frank roared to show his amusement. "You tell 'em, Frank!" Mabel shouted. "You just yell and let the whole world hear!"

Jason and Piper chuckled.

Dipper surveyed the landscape. "There's the clearing! Can you land there?"

Hazel tapped his shoulder. "Hold on."

Frank went into a steep dive like a roller coaster, pulling up at the last second. Dipper made a noise like a cat with something stuck in its throat… "Awesome," he squeaked.

Mabel somehow seemed to gain more energy. "WOOO! I'm on fire baby, let's take down this wood!"

And grabbed her hatchet and began chopping. "Uh… You know what, I think this will go faster if we have Frank and Jason chop."

It took all of the forty minutes they had just to load up the golf cart.

Dipper started the engine, and they returned to the shack, a little more slowly than they had come, because the back was full of wood. The teens followed behind.

Their great uncle was waiting for them out on the porch. "Gee, stall till the last minute, will ya? Why'd you bring a whole bunch of teens with you? They look too 'cool' to hang out with you." He gestured to the group behind them.

Dipper ignored him and began stacking wood next to the shack, Mabel helping. In a few minutes they were.

Dipper held out his hand expectantly. "I believe you owe us some ice cream."

Stan checked his watch. "It's 6:05, and you got someone to help you. I think you need to give up your candy instead."

"Actually, Grunkle Stan," Mabel said officially, "I believe that's called a loophole. See, we just needed to get the wood, we didn't have to stack it, and you never said we couldn't have help. Therefore, we actually finished the job with time to spare."

Stan looked at her incredulously, and then turned. "Ah, using the life skills I teach you. Your parents would be so proud."

"Alright, hop in the car." He looked behind him at the teens. "They're not invited."

"We have to go, anyway," Piper agreed.

"We just want to say goodbye," Mabel said. "It was really nice meeting you all."

Dipper nodded along with her. "Oh, and… I decided, I won't ask about you guys, as long as you don't tell anyone about all the monsters we have here. A lot of them are friendly."

"Deal," Jason agreed. "We might not come back, but… uh, stay out of trouble."

Stan shook his head. "Yeah, right."

They all laughed. Dipper and Mabel got into the car and rolled down the windows. Dipper remembered one more thing. "Oh, by the way! Don't try to sneak into the convenience store! It's really haunted and the ghosts will kill you if you try to go in!" he yelled cheerfully. He didn't get to see their reactions, because the car had already gone down the hill.

…

When Jason and Piper made it back to Camp Half-Blood, they were greeted by Annabeth and Percy.

"So, did you get rid of the phoenixes?" Annabeth asked.

Piper nodded. "Hazel buried them under a bunch of rocks. Every time they reform, they'll just be crushed again."

"That's pretty handy," Percy approved.

"Uh, Annabeth, I need to ask you something…" Jason said suddenly. "Do you have a cabin mate named Aleixo Sullen?"

She looked a little surprised by the question. "Uh… Yeah, he's eight. Why?"

"I need to ask him something. Could you take me to him?"

…

Jessica tried her best to stay out of the mindscape, but she was too weak, and the pull was too strong. Eventually, she was sucked back into the gray drab surroundings.

She floated around for a while, not wanting to think about her problems.

Unfortunately, a loud voice forced her to. "HEYA, HOT-HEAD! WHY SO GLUM?"

She groaned and turned to face the yellow demon. "I failed, if that's what you're wondering. I failed to kill them, and I failed to get the journal. Leave me alone."

"OH, MAN," he said cheerfully, pulling off his top-hat and dusting it. "THAT'S A BUMMER! YOU SEEMED SO SET ON REVENGE, AND THEN YOU BROKE MY TOYS. COULD IT GET ANY WORSE FOR YOU?"

"No." She turned her back on him. "I was just so tired of being stuck like this."

"WELL, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE STUCK LIKE THAT FOR MUCH LONGER!" She turned around only to see a wide mouth full of teeth. And then she was no more.

Bill licked his fingers. "AH, IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE HAD A SOUL INSIDE ME. I CAN FEEL IT WRIGGLING."

 **No, that wasn't a reference to a fandom that has completely taken over my life and kept me from this for so long! Who told you that?! They're a dirty liar! YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE! *Jumps out window* Oh, wait. *Reappears* THE END.**


End file.
